Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
evaluated. Having so many criteria tends to dilute the impact of any one
of them. The skills required to undertake the evaluations include the
ability to assess the appropriate weightings for each area of testing; some
of the detailed evaluations may require specialist external evaluators,
who are then moderated by the evaluation management team.
The application of electronic tools in the
procurement process
The use of information and communication technology (ICT) to trans-
port and communicate documents electronically is far more effi cient
and cost-effective than producing hard copies, organising their delivery
and administering the paper trail they leave. This means that running
a formal procurement process electronically is in practice the preferred
method of delivering what is needed, as well as offering a far more sus-
tainable outcome in both economic and environmental terms.
In one year, it was calculated that the Crossrail programme's total use
of paper, if stacked in a single pile, would have reached above that
of one of the tallest man-made structures, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai
(almost 830m high). And Crossrail was not even using paper-based
procurement!
There are, however, a number of constraints when using electronic tools
to manage the overall procurement process. The systems have to be
secure, yet accessible. Information sent on either a CD-ROM or DVD
in essence provides 'electronic paper' to suppliers and therefore retains
all the issues associated with communicating physical media between
parties. For example, they rely on physical delivery means, which are
prone to delay, loss or damage.
The formal procurement process employed in a PSE approach makes
use of two very different electronic tools, shown in Figure 7.1. These
are electronic sourcing (eSourcing) and electronic evaluation (eEvalua-
tion). The role of the eSourcing tool is to act as the interface between
the buying and selling parties, while eEvaluation makes use of the facili-
ties offered by ICT to compare the offers of different vendors. These two
electronic systems can be delivered by a single tool, but for ease of
explanation they are described separately here.
